No Ordinary Kids: Children of the Plumed Serpent

cbs ^ | April 19, 2012 1:00 PM

[BenLurkin]

Here in Los Angeles the influence of Mexican culture is part of our everyday experience. The new exhibit at LACMA gives us a chance to see the origins of a culture that is part of our own.

Children of the Plumed Serpent: The Legacy of Quetzalcoatl in Ancient Mexico is the first large scale exhibition that explores the ancient kingdoms of southern Mexico – known today as Oaxaca, Puebla and Tlaxcala. This exciting exhibition features more than 200 objects spanning from the 10th century to 1580.

The legends of Quetzalcoatl – the human incarnation of the Plumed Serpent – provides key insights into the complex, and quite sophisticated, societies of Ancient Mexico. The exhibition follows the deity’s journey through southern Mexico, the historical trajectory of his life and his role as the founder and benefactor of the Nahua, Mixtec and Zapotec. Not only did these kingdoms resist both Aztec and Spanish domination, they also developed a highly sophisticated visual language and remained the dominant cultural and economic force throughout Southern Mexico.

The exhibition is stunning and includes delicately painted deerskin codices depicting birth and marriage, exquisite gold necklaces and earrings, and turquoise mosaics from Mexico, Europe and the United States. One of the highlights for me was the Skull with Turquoise Mosaic – originally from Oaxaca or Puebla and part of LACMA’s permanent collection.

Children of the Plumed Serpent is chronologically divided into five themes – The World of Tula and Chichen Itza; The New Tollan: The Emergence of Cholula and the Birth of the International Style; Feasting, Divination, and Heroic History; Avenues of Trade and the Spread of the International Style; and The Aztec Conquest and the Spanish Incursion. Curated by Victoria Lyell, John Pohl and the late Virginia Fields, the exhibition is on view from April 1 to July 1, 2012.

[bgill]

From the headline, I thought the article was about more of Obama’s sons. Hmm, maybe it is.

[who knows what evil?]

...a culture that is part of our own.

No...no, it isn't.

[AnalogReigns]

Actually, Apocalypto conflated pre-Columbian cultures in central America...and was not intended to be specific to any particular group. The Mayans, for example, which it appeared to most closely picture, had pretty well collapsed as a civilization well before the 1400s. None-the-less ALL of the pre-Christian natives of the Americas were pretty horrendously brutal, in certain areas of life. The MOST brutal were the most organized/civilized nations, of Central and South America, where human-sacrifice (as showed in Gibson's movie) was routine. One Spanish conquistador records in his memoirs how at a distance they thought a pyramid had a red carpet down its steps....but when they got up close they discovered it was just the (many gallons of) blood of the thousands of sacrificial victims that ran down the stairs making a permanent blood stain. When the utter barbarity of the native groups is known, European attitudes of bigotry at the time....are more understandable.

[El Cid]

Hideous to the point of verging on demonic. The Conquistadores did the world a favor by destroying as much of these things as they did.

I was trying to think of a 'softer' way of saying the same thing ... but basically, 'yeah'... (maybe I'd drop "verging on")

[cloudmountain]

The big guy in the middle, with all the decorations, was the heavy. He was GREAT. His death, of course, was also great.
I thought it had all the earmarks of any good adventure: chases, violence, suspense, good guys, the needy, helpless heroine and the bad guy who you LOVED to hate.

The ENDING was fantastic, only because it was so expected. But, like everyone else, I went, "Oh yeah, that was then, wasn't it?" It could have happened.

What a SHOCK the Spaniards must have been to the locals. Who knew that men could be so hairy?

[TASMANIANRED]

Pretty cool culture if you like ripping hearts out.

[Bellflower]

From my understanding there are groups from Mexico that, with great pride, consider themselves part of this really nasty religion today. They are militant and consider that they are duty bound to take back territories to their demon god/s. They want vast areas of The USA back and secretly plan how to do it.

[pabianice]

Looks like a story board from “Stargate SG-1.”

[gleeaikin]

Why do you think they bread Mexican Hairless dogs.

[gleeaikin]

Why do you think they bred Mexican Hairless dogs.

[gleeaikin]

Then again if I had to choose between having my heart cut out versus being burned to death by the Inquisition, I think I might have chosed the Aztec way, much quicker death. Naturally, some other cultures barbaric measures are much worse than your own.

[SunkenCiv]

Kinda the reverse-greener-grass syndrome. :’)